Walking through the town center of Willmar, Minn., it’s hard to miss Bethel Lutheran Church. The twin bell towers rise above every other building in town, and the maroon-bricked façade covers half a city block. Driving through this small town outside of the Twin Cities, the church can seem imposing and intimidating. But what’s happening inside the walls tells an entirely different story. Every day, youth experiencing housing insecurity visit the building for an opportunity to relax and be a kid.
Bethel, like many churches, was built for a congregation much larger than its current membership. Decades ago, the church halls and classrooms were filled with over 1,500 members; the space was bustling almost every day of the week, especially on Sundays. But, like many churches, Bethel now has much more space than it needs, largely in its education wing. After coming back from pandemic-related lockdowns, the congregation council began having conversations about how they could bring more outside groups and organizations in to both use the space on a more regular basis and contribute to the occupancy costs of their extensive facilities.
The Rev. Jon Dahl, pastor of Bethel, remembers walking through the empty building, inventorying all the amenities and maintenance needs. “We had some cosmetic fixes to make, new paint and carpet, but the structure was still really sound,” he said. The church decided to consolidate its congregational programming to just one small section of the education wing, clear out the storage and start looking for new space-use partners. Leaders also began meeting regularly with other area Lutheran churches about what they might be able to do together with so much underutilized space in a community that they knew had many unmet needs.
At the same time, Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota (LSSMN) was feeling constrained. Its youth program in the Willmar area was too small to meet the needs of its growing number of participants. “We had shared office space, but not much else,” staff noted. There was no room for a food pantry, for clothing or even space where participants could take a nap in a safe and secure place. What the young people needed most was a place where many needs, beyond case management, could be met.
A Bethel member who sat on the LSSMN board and heard about the Youth Resource Center’s challenges invited the staff to make a presentation to the congregation about their needs. Bethel saw the opportunity immediately.
“We had an entire third floor that was basically empty. This program fit right in line with our mission and identity as a church.”
- Pastor Jon Dahl
During a visit to the church building, the Youth Resource Center staff’s eyes lit up — this was exactly the kind of place they had been looking for.
A proposal was put forth in spring 2024 that would convert Bethel’s third floor into a resource center — complete with private office space for staff, a kitchenette, recreation spaces for youth, as well as a food, clothing and supply closet. Bethel agreed to finance the remodel, and the Youth Resource Center entered into an initial lease agreement for five years.
Conversations moved quickly. “It wasn’t in our executive or development teams’ plan,” said Angie Mateski, director of the Youth Resource Center. “But we had a forward-thinking executive director who saw the potential and advocated for us.”
Bethel also moved at a miraculous pace. Its council bought in almost immediately, and after just a few congregational conversations and listening sessions, the church signed the agreement.
Beyond their respective organizations, LSSMN and Bethel knew they would have to get buy-in from other supporters in Willmar. Pastor Dahl and Mateski began conversations with the city of Willmar to get ahead of zoning application and building permit approvals. They reached out to community foundations for some extra support to help make this new, and needed, partnership a reality. Bethel received grant funding to help with the third floor build-out, and LSSMN was awarded a grant to support operational costs for the first year in its new space. Less than a year after the proposal was presented to the congregation, the Youth Resource Center opened its doors.
In just five months, the center has welcomed 167 participants and given out over 2,200 hygiene and clothing items. Its new space allows staff to host community partners, collaborators, county workers and regional programming. And more than space, the center gained a new partner in Bethel.
“We have a really close relationship with the church. It’s such a refreshing change. We never saw our other landlord. There’s more than dollars and cents being exchanged here.”
- Angie Mateski
The congregation has already hosted food and supply drives for the Youth Resource Center and has signed up to volunteer with LSSMN in droves. With a welcoming and spacious home base for its programming, LSSMN is now dreaming even bigger. It hopes to pilot satellite programming in neighboring counties so that youth don’t have to find their way to Willmar to receive support — and now they will know to look at churches for those sites.
Reflecting on the experience, Pastor Dahl sees Bethel’s openness as a key factor in the partnership. The congregation had worked for a couple of years on shifting their mindset about their property, becoming open to the idea of having anchor tenants who could also be mission partners. “If we weren’t able to act when we did, who knows when another opportunity would have come up,” Pastor Dahl said. He hopes more congregations will take on that preliminary work of reflection, discernment and mindset-shifting so they can act faithfully and quickly. “When opportunities emerge, you have to jump on them,” he said. “And if you already have a core group of leaders who are ready to move forward, the congregation will follow.”
Property Stewardship Lessons
- Lay the groundwork for sharing space. Ask your congregation and council to consider, discuss and pray about new uses for the building on a frequent and regular basis.
- Leverage congregation members’ connections. Parishioners are widely connected and can be valuable networkers and recruiters for new partnerships.
- Expand the conversation beyond the congregation. Talking with other local churches, leaders and organizations opens up more possibilities than the congregation can think of.
